Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 2 Piggy
Half a month later, Kuala Lumpur
In the rest area of ​​the Taiyou Mining shed, Zheng Yi walked back slowly with his hands behind his back and found a place in the corner to rest.

After more than half a month of recuperation, his health has improved a lot and he has gradually adapted to his identity: piglet.

He had severe hypertension and liver disease in his previous life, and the big drink he had before traveling through time most likely killed him.

When working in a state-owned enterprise, you have no choice but to do your job. You just have to accompany your leader. I don’t know if this counts as a work-related death.

"So, time travel really does exist in this world."

He was still quite happy. After all, since he could start over again after death, wasn't every day he lived now a gain?
What's more, in his previous life, he was already a middle-aged man in his fifties and his health was not very good. Now he has been reborn and traveled through time and space and has become a strong young man under twenty years old. Is there anything better than returning to youth?
Only when you get older do you realize how precious a treasure a young and healthy body is.

As for his low status and hard life, he didn't really care.

He also had a poor childhood, and he firmly believed that with his own abilities, knowledge, and skills, these so-called hard times would not last long, and maybe he would even leave his name in history in the future.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yi couldn't help but give a bright silly smile to the sun.

"Hey, you loser, this is your meal."

As he was speaking, a pretty girl in a pink dress impatiently and roughly placed a bowl of porridge in front of Zheng Yi.

"What are you looking at? Why don't you eat it quickly? It's a money-losing..."

The girl's name is Xiaohuan. She is a maid of the eldest daughter of the Li family in Taiyou Mining.

The eldest daughter of the Li family was the one he had bought for fifty dollars that day while he was half asleep.
Sadly, he hadn't seen it since he came to.

It was obvious that Miss Li's maid seemed to look down on him because he had been sober for several days but still refused to go down to the mine to work.

Zheng Yi didn't mind, and nodded to Xiao Huan with a smile, saying, "Thank you, Sister Xiao Huan. I think you put on some makeup today. You look prettier than usual."

"You're such a smooth talker. Humph, you're lucky to have been bought by our Li family. If you were bought by another owner, you would have been beaten to death long ago for being lazy, greedy, and a money-losing piece of shit like you. You've been recovering for a few days, but you still don't start working."

"My body isn't fully recovered yet. Please let me recuperate for a few more days. In another seven or eight days, I'll definitely be well again. Don't worry, you're getting a great deal by buying me."

"Ha, you're still thinking about keeping it for another seven or eight days? You're dreaming. Let me tell you, the manager has already said that you can only keep it for three more days at most. After that, you have to go back to work in the mines."

"Oh."

Zheng Yi nodded to show his understanding, then said nothing and continued to squat and drink porridge.

The porridge is very ordinary white rice porridge, but it is cooked very thick and fragrant. There are also a few drops of soy sauce on it. After mixing it well, it is quite smooth to drink.

"I'm telling you, you should be happy to be able to work at our Taiyou. Ask around in Kuala Lumpur. At other tin mines, the monthly wage is ten dollars, and you're not allowed to take leave. But at our Taiyou, you get twelve dollars, plus two days of vacation, and food and lodging."

"Miss, I paid fifty dollars for you. Damn the Nationalist government! The price of the currency in Southeast Asia is rising too. Fifty dollars is almost sixty Malaysian ringgits." "As long as you work hard, you only need to work for five months to pay off the money you owe us. Then we will sign a formal employment contract with you and you will be free."

"After signing the employment contract, you can send home any money you earn. Our Li family hasn't taken advantage of you at all. Not only have we not calculated your interest, but we haven't even calculated the cost of the medicine you've been eating for free for the past half month. You've been taking advantage of us so much, you're a money-loser."

"Go ask around. In the whole of Kuala Lumpur, or even in the whole of Southeast Asia, is there any family as kind as our Li family? You've been so lucky for eight lifetimes, don't you know that?"

Zheng Yi was of course well aware that the maid was trying to PUA him, but he didn't seem to mind it at all. He just smiled and replied, "Thank you so much, Miss, and thank you, Sister Xiaohuan," and continued to drink his porridge.

In Southeast Asia, the relationship between the master and the piglet was not simply that of slave and slave owner, but more like that of creditor and debtor.

After buying the piglets, the piglet head would pack them and load them onto ships, and then sell them to plantation owners or mine owners at a higher price, who were called master families. The piglet head made a profit from the difference in the price of transporting the piglets.

After buying the piglet, the owner will sign a loan agreement with the piglet. The money used to buy the piglet is considered a loan to the piglet, and the piglet must work for the owner to repay the debt.

As for how to repay it specifically, that depends on the conscience of the owner.

People with good consciences pay lower interest rates, and usually the debt can be paid off in two or three years. People with bad consciences charge compound interest, which may take you a lifetime to pay off.

Of course, such masters are also easy to be hacked to death. The piglets in Southeast Asia have never been more docile than the black slaves in America.

As for the Li family, they don't charge interest and can pay off the debt in half a year. No matter how you look at it, they are a very conscientious family.

Although he bought it at a discount, it was cheap.

I heard from my fellow workers in the mine that the master of the Li family was named Li Jiqian. He was a Jinshi in the late Qing Dynasty, and served as a fifth-rank Haoshou Zhizheng doctor and the magistrate of Luoding County.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the old man resigned from his official position to join the revolutionary party and even served as a stand-in for Mr. Sun.

Later, with the introduction of revolutionaries Yang Yongtai and Li Huaishuang, he came to Southeast Asia to run the silk and tea business. Later, the business grew bigger and bigger, and the current "Jinlun Tai Mining" and "Taiyou Mining" were established.

The main business is tin mining, and it also engages in shipping, foreign exchange, inns, rubber, silk, tea, and Guangdong specialty trade.

These first revolutionaries who followed Mr. Sun were indeed quite conscientious.

As they were chatting, they saw a sudden commotion in the mine and everyone was running in the same direction.

"Oh no, oh no! That German machine broke down again, and Four Eyes and his crew are trapped in the mine!"

Hearing this, Zheng Yi, who was drinking porridge quietly, inadvertently smiled.

It seems that I don’t have to do hard work in the mines anymore.

(End of this chapter)